Childhood is a source of fascination in most Western cultures. It is both a major inspiration for artistic creation and a political ideal, which aims at protecting future generations. Which role does it play in French society and in other francophone areas? Why is the French national anthem (“La Marseillaise”) addressed to its “children”? This course will study the transformation of childhood since the 18th century and the development of sentimentality within the family. We will examine various representations of childhood in literature (e.g. Pagnol, Proust, Sarraute, Laye, Morgièvre), movies (e.g. Truffaut), and songs (e.g. Brel, Barbara). Course taught in French.

Word Count: 34761

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An Introduction to Moving Pictures

Short Description:
An introduction to film that explores film structure and analysis, with attention being paid to film in its contemporary global context.

Long Description:
Contemporary World Cinema is a free, open access introduction to the art and science of cinema. An adaptation of Moving Pictures. An Introduction to Cinema by Russell Sharman, James Skidmore’s Contemporary World Cinema preserves Sharman’s chapters on the tools and techniques of cinema (mise-en-scène, narrative form, cinematography, editing, sound and acting), and includes a new section on world cinema with an introduction to the concept, case studies of nine films from around the world, as well as an overview of the questions that guide film analysis.

Author Contact: skidmore@uwaterloo.ca.

Word Count: 74537

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Short Description:
Este libro de texto busca fomentar el visionado crítico de productos audiovisuales contemporáneos y el reflexionar sobre la representación de las culturas hispanas en webseries y vídeos musicales. This textbook aims to promote critical viewing of contemporary audiovisual products and thinking about the representation of Hispanic cultures in web series and music videos.

Long Description:
Culturas hispanas a través de la pantalla busca fomentar el visionado crítico de productos audiovisuales contemporáneos y el reflexionar sobre la representación de las culturas hispanas en webseries y vídeos musicales. La difusión y la popularidad de estos dos géneros justifican que se les dedique espacio en el currículo junto a otros géneros audiovisuales más consagrados, caso de los cortos y los largometrajes. El libro se ofrece en inglés y en español para que pueda ser utilizado en una amplia variedad de disciplinas académicas. Asimismo, el libro está organizado en unidades didácticas independientes, las cuales presentan diferentes estructuras y temáticas de forma que el profesor/a pueda seleccionar aquellas que mejor se ajusten a los objetivos concretos de su curso. Hispanic Cultures Through the Screen aims to promote critical viewing of contemporary audiovisual products and thinking about the representation of Hispanic cultures in web series and music videos. Increasing popularity of these two genres justify dedicating part of the curriculum to them along with other more established audiovisual genres, such as short and feature films. The book is presented in English and Spanish so that it can be used in a wide variety of courses. Finally, it is organized into separate units (each based on a different audiovisual product) with different themes, structures and length, so that teachers can select those units that interest them the most for a specific course.

Word Count: 52525

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Students will talk about actors and actresses, movies they like or dislike, and try to guess the movie based on a description in English.

This class explores the interrelationship between humans and natural environments. It does so by focusing on conflict over access to and use of the environment as well as ideas about “nature” in various parts of the world.

This class explores the interrelationship between humans and natural environments. It does so by focusing on conflict over access to and use of the environment as well as ideas about “nature” in various parts of the world.

In this activity students will practice talking about French films, and then practice pitching an original film idea of their own.

Guinea Bissau Conflict. Program examines the guerilla warfare underway in the African country of Guinea Bissau as part of the campaign for independence being waged in that country. Program is divided into two segments: the first consisting of an on-location British film about Guinea Bissau guerilla troop B-30 as it proceeds to an attack site, the second of an interview with Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) representative Gil Fernandes, who discusses his work, background, and the state of the war. Film contains commentary by PAIGC founder Amilcar Cabral. Produced by John Slade. Directed by Russell Tillman.

Through the Lens of Post-Colonialism and Cultural Humility

Short Description:
This textbook offers students a way to appreciate and understand film from global civilizations and cultures. The chapters introduce terminology and technology in filmmaking as well as critical methodologies for understanding film as a global art form. Students are encouraged to gain a deeper understanding of world cultures through the perspective of native filmmakers.

Long Description:
In fourteen chapters, An Introduction to World Film explores topics in cinema and films by major international directors including: Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Abbas Kiarostami, Ousmane Sembène and Haifaa Al-Mansour. Realism, Neorealism and Dramatic Filmmaking techniques are explored and illustrated in the chapters. The book is chronological, beginning with the first film innovators, and the invention of the Cinematographe, by the Lumière brothers in Lyon, France. The book chronicles major stylistic innovations in International Cinema and also offers geographical and political context for the films presented.

Word Count: 19908

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Short Description:
A free and open-source introduction to the art and science of moving pictures, offering in-depth exploration of how cinema communicates, and what, exactly, it is trying to say.

Long Description:
A free and open-source introduction to the art and science of cinema. From the earliest iterations to the latest innovations, this introductory text explores the tools and techniques of mise-en-scene, narrative form, cinematography, editing, sound and acting, how each has contributed to the evolution of cinematic language, and how that evolution implicates critical issues of representation in mass media. Moving Pictures offers in-depth examination of how cinema communicates, and what, exactly, it is trying to say.

Author Contact: russell.sharman@gmail.com

Word Count: 55639

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This course addresses the place of contemporary queer identities in French discourse and discusses the new generation of queer authors and their principal concerns. Class discussions and readings will introduce students to the main classical references of queer subcultures, from Proust and Vivien to Hocquenghem and Wittig. Throughout the course, students will examines current debates on post-colonial and globalized queer identities through essays, songs, movies, and novels. Authors covered include Didier Eribon, Anne Garréta, Abdellah Taïa, Anne Scott, and Nina Bouraoui. This class is taught in French.

In this class we will come to understand the vast changes in Spanish life that have taken place since Franco’s death in 1975. We will focus on the new freedom from censorship, the re-emergence of movements for regional autonomy, the new cinema, reforms in education and changes in daily life: Sex roles, work, and family that have occurred in the last decade. In so doing, we will examine myths that are often considered commonplaces when describing Spain and its people.

A second-year intermediate course that includes vocabulary enhancement and limited review of selected points of grammar. Focuses on listening comprehension and speaking, with group activities, discussions and individual oral reports based on readings, films, music and art.

This subject examines the experiences of ordinary Chinese people as they lived through the tumultuous changes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We look at personal narratives, primary sources, films alongside a textbook to think about how individual and family lives connect with the broader processes of change in modern China. In the readings and discussions, you should focus on how major political events have an impact on the characters’ daily lives, and how the decisions they make cause large-scale social transformation.

Climate Change in Narrative Film

Short Description:
Explores the history and impact of the “Cli-Fi Film,” or Climate Fiction Film, a sub-genre of narrative cinema that depicts, on some level, the effects of climate change on the Earth and its inhabitants.

Long Description:
Telling Stories to Save the World: Climate Change in Narrative Film explores – through text, images, and video – the history and impact of the “Cli-Fi Film,” or Climate Fiction Film, a subgenre of narrative cinema that depicts, on some level, the effects of climate change on the Earth and its inhabitants. This openly-licensed resource covers the following topics: overview of climate change; rationale for the focus on narrative, or feature, film; definition and context of the “Cli-Fi Film”; history and impact of major narrative films focused on climate change, from Soylent Green (1973) to Don’t Look Up (2021). The resource concludes with a consideration of the future direction of Cli-Fi Films. Along the way, learners read about the author and some effects of climate change on her own life, inspiring her to create this resource and hopefully inciting those who use it to action.

Word Count: 23112

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Book Three: Senses of Place and Space

Short Description:
Today, as the increasing accessibility, prevalence, and affordability of VR technology grows, so does a need to revisit theories of virtual space. Virtual Interiorities brings together scholars from the allied fields of built environment, humanities, art, and media. This collection of essays catalogs the moments of collision and collusion between parallel universes of spatio-visual media as they shift into and extend one another.

Long Description:
Contemporary virtual reality is often discussed in terms of popular consumer hardware. Yet the virtual we increasingly experience comes in many forms and is often more complex than wearable signifiers. This three-volume collection of essays examines the virtual beyond the headset. Virtual Interiorities offers multiple, sometimes unexpected entry points to virtuality—theme parks, video games, gyms, pilgrimage sites, theater, art installations, screens, drones, film, and even national identity. What all these virtual interiorities share are compelling cultural perspectives on distinct moments of environmental collision and collusion, liminality, and shifting modes of inhabitation, which challenge more conventional architectural conceptions of space. Senses of Place and Space steps beyond environments to look more closely at inhabitation, time, non-space, and placelessness. Each piece gathered in this final volume touches on how we exist—or might exist—in emerging virtual constructs, as well as how those constructs shift our perceptions through fluidity, pervasiveness, and altered vantages.

Word Count: 189719

ISBN: 978-1-387-49250-3

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